Number of patients waiting 12 hours at A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital slashed by 43%
The number of people waiting 12 hours at A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital has been cut by 43% amid efforts to reduce ‘corridor care’.
According to NHS England, patients spending 45 minutes or more in clinically inappropriate areas of emergency departments or wards, such as hallways or waiting rooms are considered to have experienced corridor care.
The issue of corridor care is one which is being targeted by authorities, with NHS leaders in North West Trusts with the highest levels of corridor care receiving specialised and tailored support as part of plans to eradicate corridor care by the end of this Parliament.
One North West success story, however, is Blackpool, which has seen a 43% cut in 12-hour waits as well as reductions in their patients’ length of stay and those waiting for discharge. The improvement as being attributed to senior staff being present in A&E and using data to predict busy periods.
It comes as the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) revealed the locations of 40 new and expanded same-day emergency care and urgent care centres, which will allow patients to be treated faster and ease pressure on A&Es.
Getting it Right First Time
Teams of experts will be deployed to NHS trusts with the highest rates of corridor care in a bid to end the “unacceptable, undignified” practice, the Government has announced. NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) team are working with the most affected hospitals across England, including the North West, to provide bespoke clinical support to leadership staff.
This comes as early data shows the majority of corridor care is concentrated in a small number of NHS trusts. The work comes on the back of significant progress across urgent and emergency care, including the shortest A&E waiting times in four years and ambulance response times the fastest for half a decade despite record demand.
The GIRFT team provides tailored support to hospitals using learning from those NHS Trusts who have already made significant progress into reducing corridor care this year.
The support they provide includes identifying how to improve discharge and flow through the hospital, helping trusts to better understand their own data so they can improve predicting when surges in demand may appear and supporting clinical leaders in improved decision making.
Not acceptable
“Corridor care is not acceptable and that is why in the North West we’re backing trusts with tailored clinical support through GIRFT and expanding urgent care capacity so more people can be treated quickly in the right place,” said Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director for NHS England in the North West.
“These changes, alongside a relentless focus on discharge, flow and early senior clinical decision-making, are already helping cut long waits, and we will keep working with local partners to deliver safer, more dignified care for everyone.”
Record investment
“For too long, the normalisation of corridor care has been baked into our NHS – it’s unacceptable, undignified and exactly why this government is shifting the dial for patients and staff,” said Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting. “We’re sending in specialist teams of experts to identify the causes in some of the worst offending trusts and swiftly rectify the problems they find.
“That, plus new and expanded urgent care centres will mean patients are treated more quickly and in the right place, while easing pressure on busy A&Es to care for the most serious cases. We are cutting waiting times and moving away from unacceptable corridor care, building an NHS that treats patients with dignity.
“After the NHS performed significantly better this winter, we are going further to strengthen services and build a system fit for the future, backed by record investment.”